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Written on the Dark Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book of 2025
Both sweeping and intimate, a majestic novel of love and war that brilliantly evokes the drama and turbulence of medieval France
Thierry Villar is a well-known—even notorious— tavern poet, familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person, despite his quickness, to be caught up in the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins, and invading armies.
But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. And so Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as political struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction.
As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king—and help his forces in war. A wide and varied set of people from all walks of life take their places in the rich tapestry of this story.
A new masterwork from the internationally bestselling author of All the Seas of the World, A Brightness Long Ago, and Tigana, Written on the Dark is an elegant tour de force about power and ambition playing out amid the intense human need for art and beauty, and memories to be left behind.
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"Kay once again delivers a skillful blend of history and fantasy that captures both the beauty and brutality of the past with poetic precision. His sophisticated prose elevates every scene, intertwining fleeting joys and deep sorrows into a narrative that resonates long after the final page... In addition to being a profound meditation on history, identity, and the human condition, this novel stands as a testament to Kay’s unparalleled storytelling."
— Library Journal
Quotes
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Kay is a genius. I’ve read him all my life and am always inspired by his work.
— #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson -
History and fantasy rarely come together as gracefully or readably as they do in the novels of Guy Gavriel Kay.
— The Washington Post Book World -
[Read] anything by Guy Gavriel Kay....His strengths are strong characters and fantastic set pieces.
— The New Yorker -
Guy Gavriel Kay has a wonderful talent. He tells stories in an invented world that is so rich in historical echoes that I found myself smiling with pleasure as I heard the echoes, while engrossed in the story. Warmly recommended.
— Edward Rutherfurd -
Kay is peerless in plucking elements from history and using them to weave a wholly fantastical tale that feels like a translation of some freshly unearthed scroll from a time we have yet to discover.
— The Miami Herald -
“[Read] anything by Guy Gavriel Kay....His strengths are strong characters and fantastic set pieces.
— The New Yorker -
An absolutely astonishing novel . . . by our greatest living writer of the fantastic. . . . Quite simply, a masterpiece.
— JM Miro, international bestselling author of Ordinary Monsters -
Praise for the novels of Guy Gavriel Kay
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“[Read] anything by Guy Gavriel Kay....His strengths are strong characters and fantastic set pieces.
— The New Yorker -
History and fantasy rarely come together as gracefully or readably as they do in the novels of Guy Gavriel Kay.
— The Washington Post Book World -
Kay is a genius. I’ve read him all my life and am always inspired by his work.
— #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson -
Guy Gavriel Kay has a wonderful talent. He tells stories in an invented world that is so rich in historical echoes that I found myself smiling with pleasure as I heard the echoes, while engrossed in the story. Warmly recommended.
— Edward Rutherfurd -
Kay is peerless in plucking elements from history and using them to weave a wholly fantastical tale that feels like a translation of some freshly unearthed scroll from a time we have yet to discover.
— The Miami Herald -
Kay burnishes his reputation for worldbuilding with this believable, magic-tinged analogue for medieval France, complete with its own Hundred Years’ War and a Joan of Arc stand-in. While Kay’s fictional outcomes tend toward the happier, he plays fair with the suffering of his heroes and humanizes his villains. Longtime fans and new readers alike will be sucked in.
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
There are more than a few flashes of brilliance in Written on the Dark, as well as some profoundly moving insights and some of Kay’s most memorable characters.
— Locus
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About Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay is the internationally bestselling author of numerous novels. He has been awarded the International Goliardos Prize for his work in fantasy literature, as well as the World Fantasy Award in 2008. He has twice won the Aurora Award, and in 2014, he was named to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor. His works have been translated into more than twenty-five languages.
About Simon Vance
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.